Month: June 2024

The Committed Advocates of Integrity Initiative (CADII), a Civil Society Organisations (CSO) has called on the Federal Government to intensify its fight against corruption, to enable Nigerian youths achieve their full potential.

Mr Charles Agubor, Executive Director/Convener, CADII, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Tuesday.

Agubor said that the fight against corruption was what the country needed now to get the economy working again.

He said that the group would convene a National Integrity Summit (NIS) aimed at building integrity to prevent and combat corruption.

‘We are organising and hosting the National Integrity Summit to promote and advocate for integrity amongst people from all walks of life in a bid to make integrity a more viable, visible and dominant value in our society.

‘The summit will be organised in a way to awaken competition and honest dealings in all systems towards building a better and prosperous corrupt-free Nation in Nigeria.

‘The summ
it was earlier scheduled for June 5 and June 6 but we eventually moved it to Aug. 28 and Aug. 29.

‘We decided to postpone the summit to ensure more participation; and there is a need for a much more holistic, comprehensive and integrated approach to fight corruption.

‘The concept of the summit is to advance at both the Africa and Global forum, the fight against corruption, and this will be held annually.

‘At the summit, we will focus on strategies to develop policies and enhance partnerships and dialogue between the public and private sectors to improve productivity,’ he said.

Agubor said that clamping down, arresting and sanctioning corrupt officials and individuals were no longer fashionable and may be an inadequate and outdated method of suppressing corruption and promoting integrity.

‘A more strategic and sustainable response to the fight against corruption lies in the use of awards as an incentive to honor individuals and public officials who have proven to be exemplary in the display of integrity.

‘
This can be done in a way to awaken competition and honest dealings in all systems, towards building a better and prosperous corrupt-free Nation, Nigeria.’

According to Agubor, building a nation free from corruption can be made possible, by integrating an integrity compliance mindset in branding and in every facet of our life as citizens, through reinforcements of sustainable value reorientation and attitudinal change.

‘A nation free of corruption can be achieved through integrity advocacy, enhancing partnerships and dialogue between the public and private sectors to promote business integrity.

‘This is essential for sustainable long-term business growth, creating excellent opportunities and increased gross domestic product (GDP), which aims to help in diminishing the vicious cycle of corruption in Nigeria, that has exacerbated poverty, obstructed sustainable development and productivity.’

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

For more than one decade Nigeria has battled various forms of insecurity. They range from Boko Haram insurgency in the North East, Banditry in the North West and North Central to militancy and oil theft in the South-South.

In the South East, the fear of gunmen is the beginning of wisdom. Farmers and herders continue to clash in parts of North Central and South West.

These security challenges are a major strain on the country’s human and material resources.

According to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), is a global data hub that collects real-time conflict-related data, Nigeria recorded no fewer than 4,556 fatalities and 7,086 abductions in the last one year.

Among others, the data showed that banditry in the North-west lead other regions with 1,475 deaths and 4,343 abductions while in the North-central there were 552 incidents of banditry, even as farmers-herders conflict and cultism claimed at least 1,444 lives.

In addition, about 1,321 abductions were recorded in the region. I
n the South-South a total of 231 violent incidents majorly cultism-related and militancy were recorded resulting in at least 336 deaths. There were 295 abductions.

According to reports, between 2015 and 2021, Nigeria spent ?8 trillion on defence, while Global Terrorism Index in 2023 ranked the country as the 8th country most impacted by terrorism globally.

On assumption of office on May 29, 2023, President Bola Tinubu promised to frontally address the security challenges and he is keeping to that pledge according to Minister of Defence, Alhaji Mohammed Badaru.

According to him, since the Tinubu administration was inaugurated, several key terrorists and bandits have been captured or neutralised just as a large cache of arms and ammunition were recovered.

Badaru said that while 245 kidnapped victims have been rescued, 61 HH radio, 223 vehicles, 363 motorcycles, and 551 mobile phones were recovered.

He also said that troops of the Armed Forces have denied the oil thieves of an estimated N91,247,052,565 as w
ell as recovered 92,547,601,541 litres of stolen crude oil, 61,469,999 litres of illegally refined AGO and 3,920,549 litres of DPK among others.

According to the minister, in a bid to improve national security and defend the nation’s territorial integrity, the ministry enhanced synergy within the armed forces of Nigeria and other security agencies.

He said that defence equipment was procured, just as there was improvement in production and capacity development of personnel of the Armed Forces of Nigeria.

‘We also enhanced personnel welfare, increased partnership with friendly nations/organisations and sustained stakeholders’ engagement sessions.

‘The ministry ensured strict adherence to stipulated guidelines such as standard operating procedures, rules of engagement among others.

‘This has contributed greatly to the feat recorded in tackling insecurity in the country’, the minister said.

Reports by military sources say that in the past one year no fewer than 9,300 bandits and terrorists have been neutra
lized while about 7,000 others were arrested, and 4,882 assorted weapons and 83,900 munitions recovered.

The results indeed are showing, on one of the recent operations by the troops of the Nigerian Army conducted in Zamfara and Katsina, no fewer than 11 terrorists were killed, and a large cache of arms and ammunition recovered.

With the feat recorded by the AFN with the supervision of the Ministry of Defence in the fight against insecurity, can Nigerians say it is yet an uhuru?

Chief Sunday Emeyese, a legal practitioner, said the security situation in the country has improved tremendously under the Tinubu administration when compared or juxtaposed with the Buhari administration.

‘The regularity and incessant cases of unwarranted attacks and bombings by bandits has reduced.

‘Kidnapping too is on the decline. However, Fulani herdsmen and communal attacks have not abated.

‘The Tinubu administration must thus rise to the occasion and ensure that the issue of unbridled insecurity in the country becomes a th
ing of the past or is reduced to the barest minimum’, he said.

Similarly, immediate past Edo Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu said that the security situation in the country now was not as bad as it used to be.

According to him, the situation is not as bad as it used to be. I can bet that it’s gradually stabilising. I can tell you that the level of insecurity in the country is going down.

”We are not yet there, but I can bet that it is not what it used to be, So I can say kudos to the president and the present sets of security heads. They are bringing the temperature down.

”But I think they still need to do more’, he said.

In the fight against insecurity, it is important to keep eyes on the ball.

Mr Tobi Akinwole, a driver, said that though the insecurity situation has greatly reduced, there was the need for the government to sustain the success recorded.

Akinwole advised the government not to relent in attacking the terrorists and bandits.

‘Yes, we are witnessing a decline in insecurity in the countr
y now. But we are not yet where we should be. People still have fears when they want to travel from one part of the country to the other, especially by road.

‘And this is because they think that these terrorists and bandits and kidnappers can strike at any time.

‘During the reign of the immediate past administration, these people operated without any fear. The Nigeria government cannot afford to relax now that we are experiencing some form of relief’, he said.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Solidaridad and IDH, a Netherlands funded programme, has unveiled phase two of the National Initiative for Sustainable and Climate Smart Oil Palm Smallholders (NISCOPS).

NISCOPS, which aims to improve the production of oil palm while fostering a climate friendly activity, targets 12,000 oil palm farmers in its phase 2.

Wouter Plomp, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Nigeria, spoke with journalists at the unveiling of the project on Tuesday in Abuja.

He said that unveiling of the second phase was his country’s commitment to sustaining a more environment-friendly.

Plomp said it would also create a social future of the palm oil production in Nigeria.

‘You know very well that palm oil is vital for Nigeria’s economy; so is the future of Nigeria’s precious forests and so is equitability in the division of the gains of the palm oil sector.

‘So, what we aim to achieve by this project is to have a more sustainable future and a more equitable future for the palm oil production in Nigeria,” he s
aid.

The Head of Programmes, Solidaridad in West Africa, Nathaniel Boateng, who represented the Regional Director of Solidaridad, Isaac Gyamfi, said the main focus of the unveiling was to ensure the improvement oil palm within the region.

According to him, it will help the region to feed itself and meet the demand of oil palm; so that the farmers are able to cultivate in a way that does not harm the environment.

‘There is the notion that oil palm contributes a lot to deforestation; so, we seek to encourage farmers to invest more within the landscape that they are in to diversify and also enrich their production.

‘So, that they get more from what they have instead of expanding into other landscapes or into the forest areas.”

Boateng explained that the first phase was a test case to prove that indeed if farmers were to intensify, if they were to do best management practices, they could produce more.

‘It was a test case with a few farmers; in phase two, we are going to expand to other farmers; we are goi
ng to scale and consolidate the results that we have.

‘But most importantly is to look for opportunities to also unlock climate finance for the farmers; so, that is a new area that we want to venture in on the NISCOPS phase two.

‘So, farmers are able to intensify; do best management practices to reduce emissions and mitigate carbon emissions so that they can unlock climate finance,” he said.

The Chairman Executive Board of IDH, Daan Wensing, said IDH was working around the globe to bring the power of the private sector to a sustainable development goal in terms of innovation power and the investment it could make.

He said IDH was in partnership with Solidaridad, the government, public private partnership, farmers and civil societies.

The Programme Manager, Solidaridad, Kene Onukwube, said the second phase of NISCOPS consolidated the achievement of the first phase.

‘We have been able to up the yield for oil palm up to 115 tons per hectare and that is a huge gap between where it was before.

‘So, we thin
k that best management practices that are contributing to that should be replicated across more locations,’ he said.

He further explained that the second phase entailed building the bridge for local and international markets.

Onukwube said from the first phase of NISCOPS, it was realised that very little was understood about issues around the sustainability standards that were the hallmark for the international market.

‘So, we want to be able to use this second phase to broaden that perspective; help farmers and communities to begin to take responsibility for the sustainability of their forests, for the forest landscapes vis-a-vis the oil palm landscape.

‘The farmers we are going to work with now, we are looking at 12,000 and more,” he said.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria